Manipal: In the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018 announced on Thursday, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, one of the leading private universities in the country, has done better with Kasturba Medical College, Manipal going up 50 places. While KMC has moved up into the 401-450 range from the 450-500 band, Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MCOPS), retained its rank in the 251-300 range in the Pharmacy and Pharmacology subject. Last year MAHE was the only private University from India that was featured in the QS world-ranking list.

The QS World University Rankings by Subject, ranks the world’s top universities in individual subject areas, covering 48 subjects. In the 2018 edition 1,100 universities featured.These annual Rankings compare academic reputation, employer reputation, research citations and impact. Each of the subject rankings is compiled using four sources.

The first two of these are QS’s global surveys of academics and employers, which are used to assess institutions’ international reputation in each subject. The second two indicators assess research impact, based on research citations per paper and h-index in the relevant subject. These four components are combined to produce the results for each of the subject rankings, with weightings adapted for each discipline.

Dr H. Vinod Bhat,Vice Chancellor, Manipal Academy of Higher Education reacting to the news said, “I am delighted to learn that Kasturba Medical College has improved considerably and also that MCOPS has retained its rank. It is a noteworthy achievement as both, KMC and MCOPS are among the best in the country as well. Hopefully, more institutions will figure in these ranking in the years to come”.

There are atleast three major pre-requirements for institutions to qualify for subject wise ranking – exceed the minimum required score for the academic and/or employer reputation indicators, exceed the five-year threshold for number of papers published in the given discipline and offer undergraduate or teach postgraduate programs in the given discipline.